Fashion Plate

Today Christopher and I caught a cool little exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum - a display of Natacha Rambova fashions. Rambova's main claim to fame was her four year marriage to Rudolph Valentino, and much of the scant web info on her (like this Arizona Republic article) tends to emphasize that. Which is unfortunate, since she was a pretty fantastic designer and an interesting lady in her own right. Rambova had her own New York fashion salon in 1928-31, creating sleek pieces that mix historical motifs with Deco styling. Weirdly enough, much of the clothing displayed came from the wardrobe of Beulah Bondi, the actress who played selfless old mothers in just about every B&W movie ever made. C. described one garment as a "lesbian chic" dress just before we found it was designed for Mercedes de Acosta -- the Old Hollywood Lesbian who had affairs with Garbo, Dietrich and several others. Anyway, locals must see this before it closes Feb. 6.
Posted by mhinrichs at January 15, 2005 06:10 PM